Honesty....The Best Policy

One of the scenes in "Don't Be That KID! At School" depicts our KID looking at another student's paper during a test. The look on the girl's face clearly shows her annoyance. After all, she studied and now the KID is taking her answers for his benefit. The questions to ask our children and students are: 1) What can she do to prevent this from happening in the future? and 2) Why does the KID feel he has the right to be dishonest?

I've thought about this scene often as I read the articles and listen to the news about the college admissions scandal. Some parents paid to have someone take the SAT or ACT for their child or change answers after their child took the test. Others bribed college coaches to fake their child's athletic credentials.

Here are three similarities between our KID cheating on a test and parents (and perhaps their children) cheating to get admission into the college of their choice:

Both are taking the easy way out. It isn't necessary to study, participate in sports and try your best when you can accomplish your goal by using others.

Both feel they cannot succeed on their own and resort to dishonesty to live up to others' expectations.

Both know what they are doing is wrong but are egocentric enough not to care. However, once caught, they are apologetic.

Parents and teachers should teach the importance of honesty at an early age. A fun activity in the "Don't Be That KID! At School Resource Guide" is called "Learning About Honesty". Distribute paper with two columns. One has a list of dishonest behaviors. The other is blank and will be filled in by your child with honest alternatives. There's an example to assist you in the Guide.

It's a great way to open the dialogue about the importance of honesty!